US Navy to battle and capture pirates

Up to till now the US Navy has only been disrupting the pirates off the coast of Somalia. But now the Navy is close to finalizing an agreement with a unspecified country to take the pirates. The Navy did not name the country it is in talks with but the country is near the horn of Africa.

If I had to guess which country the US Navy is in talks with I would say Yemen. Most of the pirate attacks have occured just off the coast of Yemen, even though the pirates are based in Somalia. Another fact is that Yemen is very close, the US NAvy wouldn't have to travel very far to drop off the captured pirates.

But Yemen is known for its revolving door prison policy towards known terrorists. I hope I'm wrong, and the US Navy picks a better country. But I can't find any reliable countries in that region. Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy plans an aggressive effort to capture pirates off the coast of Somalia with the aid of a country in the region that would agree to prosecute and hold them, a naval commander said on Thursday.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, said the United States is nearing a deal with an unidentified country that would agree to take the pirates into custody once captured by U.S. forces in Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden waters off the Horn of Africa.

Up to now, U.S. forces in the region have limited their operations to deterrence and disruption because no country including the United States has been willing to hold the pirates.

"The State Department is close on finalizing an agreement," said Gortney, who declined to identify the other country involved.

"We're expecting it ... this week, next week. But we're very close," he told reporters at the Pentagon.